Red Onion Company to serve hundreds of free Thanksgiving meals in Willis

By Meagan Ellsworth, mellsworth@hcnonline.com

Published
2:17 pm CST, Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Joey Ashton, owner of Red Onion Catering Company, places vegetables in preparation for the Montgomery County Thanksgiving Outreach dinner at the Montgomery County Fair Grounds Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016, in Conroe. less

Joey Ashton, owner of Red Onion Catering Company, places vegetables in preparation for the Montgomery County Thanksgiving Outreach dinner at the Montgomery County Fair Grounds Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016, in ... more

Photo: Jason Fochtman, Staff Photographer

Photo: Jason Fochtman, Staff Photographer

Image
1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Joey Ashton, owner of Red Onion Catering Company, places vegetables in preparation for the Montgomery County Thanksgiving Outreach dinner at the Montgomery County Fair Grounds Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016, in Conroe. less

Joey Ashton, owner of Red Onion Catering Company, places vegetables in preparation for the Montgomery County Thanksgiving Outreach dinner at the Montgomery County Fair Grounds Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016, in ... more

Photo: Jason Fochtman, Staff Photographer

Red Onion Company to serve hundreds of free Thanksgiving meals in Willis

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

Those who are in need, alone, veterans and citizens without means are invited to enjoy a free hot, home cooked Thanksgiving meal from the heart of the community.

The third annual Montgomery County Thanksgiving Outreach will be hosted by Red Onion Company stemmed from The Red Onion Company from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 23, in the North Montgomery County Community Center at 600 Gerald Street in Willis.

"No one should be a lone on the holidays, Thanksgiving, or Christmas" said Red Onion Company's Executive Chef and Owner Joey Ashton who hosts various annual charity events for about 20 years. "I'm a firm believer If you can serve the community, then you should and this is our way of trying to give back."

"…no child should go without having a Thanksgiving meal …," he added.

The first year the event was hosted in Willis two years ago, about 400 people were served. On Thanksgiving Day, Ashton anticipates his team will serve and deliver about 500-600 meals throughout Montgomery County with the help of churches, organizations, and volunteers-including some who previously attended the event for a meal but decided to serve.

He expects to see even more people at the event this year, especially those who are still recovering from Hurricane Harvey, which downgraded to a tropical storm that dumped 51 inches of rainfall that flooded several homes, including hundreds of homes near Lake Conroe in North Montgomery County.

"A lot of people are still staying in hotels while their homes are getting renovated," Ashton said. "You can imagine, how is it possible to try to cook a Thanksgiving Dinner in a hotel room. We have reached out to that aspect too and we will be expecting quite a few folks who were uprooted from their homes from Harvey."

This year, the Red Onion Company, which recently founded a nonprofit called The Onion Project for charitable events and causes like the dinner, plans to smoke 42 turkeys, cooking 250-pounds potatoes, along with stuffing and more. Children will have a chance to win one of 25 bicycles during free raffle drawings throughout the day, and can also enjoy a Kids Corner and activities.

Store-bought nonperishable deserts, such as brownies and cookies that are already prepared in addition to nearly 80 pies that have been donated by Montgomery County Treasurer Stephanne Davenport and her office, and volunteers are needed for a variety of tasks. Some of those tasks include greeting, cooking, serving and delivering meals. Volunteers are welcomed to stay for the duration of the event, but even a 15-minute shift would help, according to Ashton.

"We have people on our list who are need because they are unable to get out of their home because they are ill or unable to," Ashton said. "So we actually have volunteers set up with to-go (boxes) to deliver those to those people's homes."

While Red Onion Company hosted the event with the Friends of Conroe and 330 volunteers to serve about 1,500 people at the Montgomery County Fair Grounds this year, this year the collective effort will host the event independently in North Montgomery County.

The Friends of Conroe and the Salvation Army will host a separate Thanksgiving Day event, which will also serve and deliver more than 1,000 meals from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Salvation Army's Wayne Bergstrom Center of Hope, located at 301 Ave. E.

Full volunteer sign-ups are available on Facebook, call the Red Onion Company at 936-521-1121, or visit the restaurant located on the square in Downtown Conroe at 330 North Main.